Respiratory care practitioners care for patients with deficiencies and abnormalities of the cardiopulmonary system, like asthma, cystic fibrosis or chronic obstructive lung disease. They work with patients of all ages and in a variety of settings, such as hospitals, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, pulmonary function labs and physicians' offices.

Highlights

Accreditation

The Hudson Valley Community College Respiratory Care program, CoARC program number 200138, an A.A.S. degree program offered at the Troy, NY campus is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (www.coarc.com).

Outcomes data from the program’s Annual Report of Current Status has been posted on the CoARC website.

Experienced Faculty

Faculty members in the program bring decades of experience to the classrooms, labs and clinical rotations.

Each member of the department is licensed by New York State as a Respiratory Therapist. Clinical instruction is performed with low student-to-teacher ratios to ensure student competency and patient safety.

Patient contact and hospital exposure begin in the summer session and continue through the second year of study. Clinical experience applies theory to the patient situation. Hospital-based teaching and evaluation is done in small groups to promote one-on-one instruction and to ensure patient safety.

Clinical instruction is held in eight area health care institutions and six area home care companies, so that students are exposed to all aspects of respiratory care. Transportation is necessary for the clinical phase of study, but car-pooling and ride-sharing are often available to students without cars.

Listed below are links to some clinical sites respiratory care students attend:

Respiratory Care students must demonstrate numerous competencies representing all three learning domains: cognitive, pyschomotor and affective. Students learn, practice and verify these competencies in a number of settings, including the classroom, laboratory and clinic.

To achieve the required competencies in the classroom setting, respiratory care students must perceive, assimilate and integrate information from a variety of sources. These sources include oral instruction, printed material, visual media and live demonstrations. Students must participate in classroom discussions, give oral reports and pass written and computer-based examinations of various formats. Completion of these tasks requires cognitive skills, such as reading, writing and problem-solving.To be physically capable of the classroom work, students must, with assistance, be able to see, hear, speak, sit and touch. Respiratory care laboratories provide students with the opportunity to view demonstrations, evaluate and practice with medical devices, and perform simulated clinical procedures. In addition to the cognitive skills required in the classroom, students must demonstrate psychomotor skills in manipulating patients and equipment as well as general professional behaviors such as team-building and interpersonal communications. To satisfy laboratory requirements, students must perform all procedures without critical error. This requires high levels of cognitive, perceptual and psychomotor function.

In addition to physical capabilities for classroom work, the laboratories require students, with assistance, to assemble equipment, stand while using both hands to perform procedures, perform fine motor skills, and perform procedures requiring considerable strength. Examples of the latter procedures include turning and moving patients, endotracheal intubation, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Clinical education in respiratory care involves application of skills acquired in the classroom and laboratory setting to actual patients in the clinical setting. In addition to the cognitive skills required in those settings, students must demonstrate skills in patient assessment, clinical reasoning, problem-solving, synthesizing care plans and troubleshooting equipment. Professional behaviors required for clinical training include constructive responses to situations involving emergencies, deaths, stress, frustrating situations and complex interactions with other members of the health care team. Students must also demonstrate respect for others, empathy, responsibility, efficiency, integrity and initiative. In addition to the physical capabilities required during the classroom and laboratory sessions, clinical training includes moving briskly between patient care areas, and meeting the mental and physical demands of 12-hour shifts on both day and night rotations.

Program Mission, Goals and Outcomes

Program Mission StatementConsistent with the mission of Hudson Valley Community College, the Respiratory Care Program is committed to providing didactic and clinical education which prepares graduates for positions as respiratory therapists. Graduates will possess the appropriate behaviors, skill and knowledge to delivery high quality respiratory care in any health care environment.

Graduates will demonstrate the ability to comprehend, apply and evaluate clinical information related to their role as a Registered Respiratory Therapist.

Graduates will demonstrate technical proficiency in all skills necessary in their role as Registered Respiratory Therapist.

Graduates will demonstrate personal behavior consistent with professional and employer expectations in their role as Registered Respiratory Therapist.

Graduates will be employed as Registered Respiratory Therapist within six months of graduation.

Graduates are eligible to sit for the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC) Therapist Multiple Choice (TMC) Exam immediately following graduation. If they achieve the high cut score on the TMC exam, they can then attempt the clinical simulation exam. If successful on the clinical simulation exam, they will receive the Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) credential. For more information regarding NBRC requirements, please visit the official website at www.nbrc.org.

Observation

Those interested in the program may wish to observe respiratory therapists on the job. The Respiratory Care Department can arrange for observation time. Call (518) 629-7454 for an appointment.